Brussels, 21/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 20 December, the European Commission opened a detailed investigation into the planned acquisition of Aker Yards of Norway by STX of South Korea. The investigation will allow the Commission to assess any possible anti-competitive effects of the proposed operation on the cruise ship market, which has only three major players worldwide, one of them being Aker Yards. (STX has hitherto concentrated on cargo vessels). The initial cruise ship market investigation indicated that specialised know-how constitutes a high barrier to enter this market. It also revealed that STX may actually be very close to entering the market and to becoming a competitor to the existing players. The proposed transaction may, therefore, remove a potential new market entrant and have potentially anti-competitive effects that could result in harm to consumers in the growing market for cruise ships. The Commission now has 90 working days to take a final decision on whether the concentration would significantly impede effective competition in this market in the EU. (C.D.)